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By Linus Aleke

The Chairman of Ezza south local council area of Ebonyi state Mr. Lazarus Ogbee had vehemently opposed the idea of local council autonomy in the country when he affirmed that local government autonomy will not work in Ebonyi state, saying that he is not an apostle of local council autonomy.

 The chairman who spoke to our correspondent exclusively also noted that if autonomy is granted, no chairman in the 13 area councils in the state will be able to relinquish part of their funds to developmental areas put in place by the state government.

“Local government authority may not actually work well in Ebonyi state and I am not an apostle of that because we have what we want at any point in time from state government. And if autonomy is granted, I do not think that any chairman out of the 13 area councils in the state will have the large heart to relinquish any part of his fund to any development centre and that will hamper development. As a young state, we embrace the joint account system or the state controlling the local government because it is actually yielding super result in Ebonyi state and we applaud it.”

He however appealed to the media to stop blowing the issue of local council autonomy out of proportion, adding that more effort should be expended in monitoring the judicious use of the resources accruing to area councils.

The council boss also seized the opportunity to commend the governor of the state chief Martin Elechi for his giant stride in transforming the state.